Fidesz advisor’s 7-billion-forint Petőfi film drew only 164,000 viewers to theaters

In 2024, more independent Hungarian feature films were released than state-supported ones. For the first time in the past decade, independent films generated almost as much revenue as those funded by the National Film Institute.  While this is great news for film students who hang out in cafes in all-black outfits with little hats and an obsession for German arthouse cinema, it is more troubling for the state-sponsored film creators of ‘Now or Never!’ It is equally concerning for Hungarian taxpayers.

A long-time campaigner for Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz, employed as a permanent advisor of the ruling party, Philip Rákay was a newcomer to the film world, when his film project, ‘Now or Never!’, a movie about the Hungarian poet-revolutionary Sándor Petőfy recieved a state grant of HUF 7 billion (USD 18 million). Now or Never was a massive production, featuring thousands of extras, who were shot in a 15,000 m² film set. Despite this, the film was only whatched by 164 thousand people, including students who were given free tickets. Eventually, the film earned only HUF 334 million (USD 858 623) in revenue.

By contrast, ‘I Went Running’, an independent film produced without any state support, generated 900 million forints in revenue.

At the beginning of the year, 444 and 24.hu reported, based on a Facebook post by independent film researcher Máté Konkol, that in 2024 the number of independently funded feature films in theaters surpassed the number of films produced with state funding.

We examined the history of the domestic film industry over the last decade to gain insight into this trend.

Data Challenges

There is no comprehensive registry of Hungarian films, so we created our own database using three different sources and datasets, data scraping techniques and cross-referencing. After an (arduous) process, we processed and analysed data from the National Film Office, the Film Distributor’s Association, and the National Film Institute.

Based on our findings, 119 films received state funding, while the remaining 84 films in our dataset were made without any state support.

The chart below shows that comprehensive data—including budget, revenue, and viewership—was available for only 107 films. For 34 films, only budget data was accessible. Revenue and viewership figures were available for 30 films, while 32 films had no associated budget, revenue, or viewership data at all.

The data still contains significant gaps. Using the available information, we will analyse how much money has been spent on state-supported and independent films, how much revenue they generate at the box office, and how many people are drawn to individual productions.

To profit or not the profit (seems to be a question)

When Philip Rákay and the Hungarian government announced plans to create a Petőfi film to crown Fidesz’s canon of Hungarian historical movies with Hollywood-style blockbuster, the media quickly began discussing the film’s multi-billion-forint, state-funded budget. The film, Now or Never! premiered in cinemas in 2024. It cost taxpayers over seven billion forints – the most expensive Hungarian film in history.

Rákay disputes this, claiming that the 2017 film Kincsem is the most expensive Hungarian film when adjusted for inflation. The numbers don’t add up – Kincsem cost 4.8 billion forint, adjusted for inflation, which is less than the 7.3 billion calculated for the Rákay film.

Originally, Rákay’s team claimed the Petőfi film would cost six billion forints – already more than the cost of Kincsem.

The top five highest-budget Hungarian films, adjusted for inflation, include:

1. Now or Never!
2. Kincsem
3. The Story of My Wife
4. Hadik
5. The Blockade

The latter two are government-supported historical productions closely tied to nostalgic nationalist narratives. The epics aim to awaken Hungarian national pride. Success in this area is hard to quantify – but financial success, or lack thereof, is easier to measure.

Following the March release of Now or Never!, Philip Rákay proudly posted about the high number of viewers the film attracted in its first two months. However, the updates soon dried up.

According to viewership data available on the Film Distributors’ Association website—which is based on voluntary reporting and estimates but remains the only such database in Hungary—Now or Never! did not perform exceptionally well. It ranked only ninth among the most-watched Hungarian films of the past decade, with only 164 000 tickets sold.

This is an underwhelming performance given the movie’s enormous budget, the massive marketing campaign surrounding it, and the ideological support of the Hungarian government – with mandatory school trips to the cinema.

In fact, Black Dot, a low-budget independent film, followed it closely behind in viewership numbers – a movie about the outdated Hungarian education system.

The three most-watched Hungarian films of the past decade were Kincsem, Valami Amerika 3, and Futni mentem. All three were directed by Gábor Herendi, and notably, Futni mentem, released in 2024, did not receive support from the National Film Institute (NFI). Adjusted for inflation, these three films also generated the highest revenues, with Now or Never! ranking ninth on that list.

This means that the

Petőfi film, produced with HUF 7 billion (USD 18 million) in state funding, only generated HUF 334 million (USD 858 623)

in box office revenue.

From a profitability perspective, Kincsem wasn’t perfect either, but it performed much better in comparison. Its 4.8-billion-forint budget brought in nearly 1 billion forints in revenue. Additionally, when considering taxpayer money, it’s worth noting that while Now or Never! was almost entirely funded by state support, about 70% of Kincsem’s budget came from public funding, according to NFI data.

The National Film Institute nominally distributed the highest amount of funding for feature films in 2024, totalling 12 billion forints. When adjusted for inflation, however, more funding was distributed in 2017 (17.5 billion) and 2021 (16.7 billion) in real terms. The budgets for independent films remain significantly smaller by comparison.

Independent Films on the Rise

The available data indicates a steady increase in the number of independent feature films over the past decade. In 2015, only five such films were released; by 2021, the number had grown to nine, and last year it reached 13. This is four more than the number of state-funded films – a rarity in the Hungarian film industry.

Before 2024, the market was dominated by productions supported by the National Film Institute, which accounted for around 60 to 70% of the film market.

Naturally, the number of films released significantly impacts their overall viewership. Over the past decade, independent films struggled to match the viewership of state-funded productions. However, 2024 marked a notable success for the independent sector, thanks largely to strong performances by Futni Mentem and Fekete Pont.

Together, these two independent films drew 483,000 viewers to theaters, just shy of the 590,000 viewers of state-funded films.

In 2017, the year Kincsem was released, state-funded films attracted 1.3 million viewers in cinemas, while independent films were seen by just 20,000 people. Revenue trends closely mirrored these disparities in reach.

Something is clearly changing in Hungarian film.